Latest / Broken Record with Rick Rubin, Malcolm Gladwell, Bruce Headlam and Justin Richmond / Spellling
Transcript
- 0:15Speaker 1: Pushkin. I'm excited today to share a conversation with my
- 0:22Speaker 1: friend Tia Cabral, also known as Spelling. I've known Spelling
- 0:26Speaker 1: since before she started making music a bit over a
- 0:29Speaker 1: decade ago, and I'll never forget when I first heard
- 0:31Speaker 1: some of the songs that became her sophomore album, The
- 0:34Speaker 1: Turning Wheel. It blew me away. For this friend, who
- 0:37Speaker 1: I've known for so long, to just be casually demoing
- 0:39Speaker 1: these beautiful songs with such a gorgeous voice, that was astonished.
- 0:44Speaker 1: Mind you, that album got a rare perfect ten rating
- 0:46Speaker 1: from Anthony Fantano. Her latest album, Portrait of My Heart,
- 0:50Speaker 1: sees Spelling taking yet another leap, pushing her avant garde
- 0:53Speaker 1: pop and even rock sensibilities to another level, adding new
- 0:57Speaker 1: dimensions to the mysticism and drama imbued in her music. Today,
- 1:01Speaker 1: Spelling opens up about her journey from teaching to touring,
- 1:05Speaker 1: what it means to build a sonic universe where every
- 1:07Speaker 1: detail is intentional, the early days of her musical journey,
- 1:10Speaker 1: when she was just getting started. This is broken record,
- 1:16Speaker 1: real musicians, real conversations. Here's my conversation with Spelling. We
- 1:27Speaker 1: should talk about the new album because there's a lot
- 1:30Speaker 1: more guitar, and then as the album progresses there gets
- 1:32Speaker 1: to be even more guitar. It's really cool, but it was,
- 1:36Speaker 1: but it was shocking. But maybe before we get to
- 1:38Speaker 1: talking about the guitar, just what was the genesis of
- 1:43Speaker 1: your new album?
- 1:44Speaker 2: The genesis, I mean, it's the same kind of approach
- 1:47Speaker 2: I always take, which is I'm just channeling my mood.
- 1:52Speaker 2: And I felt as though what I noticed after putting
- 1:56Speaker 2: out The Turning Wheel and touring a little bit and
- 1:59Speaker 2: just kind of that felt like this turning point in
- 2:01Speaker 2: my life where this is what I'm doing with my
- 2:04Speaker 2: life kind of a thing, whereas before it was I
- 2:08Speaker 2: was just you're meaning a lot, And I didn't imagine
- 2:10Speaker 2: my day to day being oriented around making music or
- 2:14Speaker 2: performing music really until post Turning Wheel. And there's a
- 2:19Speaker 2: lot of variables to that. I think I'm in my thirties,
- 2:24Speaker 2: Like I didn't really actually activate this craft until I
- 2:30Speaker 2: was in my like mid twenties, you know, So there
- 2:34Speaker 2: was this I felt like I'd already gone through this
- 2:36Speaker 2: evolution in my life where I felt like I know
- 2:39Speaker 2: who I am, you know, I have this sense of
- 2:42Speaker 2: self and confidence that's not rooted in being a musician,
- 2:47Speaker 2: so you know, going through that, putting out the album,
- 2:50Speaker 2: getting like an amazing amount of support for it and
- 2:55Speaker 2: growing my audience and all that, and I just was like, whoa,
- 2:58Speaker 2: I feel like I'm having this second sort of adolescence
- 3:02Speaker 2: in my life where I'm like once again being shaken up,
- 3:05Speaker 2: like having an identity crisis almost like who am I now?
- 3:08Speaker 2: And how does this change my life path? And all
- 3:13Speaker 2: of those things and just insecurities coming up I just
- 3:16Speaker 2: never thought I'd have to encounter again, Like I already
- 3:19Speaker 2: went through this as a teenager, just being like what
- 3:21Speaker 2: does it mean to like, you know, my image, my
- 3:25Speaker 2: relationships and my romantic connections, my friendships, all of that
- 3:29Speaker 2: started to kind of get re oriented around now pursuing
- 3:35Speaker 2: this thing like full full force and full heartedly, and
- 3:39Speaker 2: so Portrait of my Heart. A lot of those songs
- 3:43Speaker 2: are just like, yeah, stepping back into that sort of
- 3:45Speaker 2: adolescent space of like oh man, just like a restlessness,
- 3:50Speaker 2: sort of angst, a lot of grasping and questioning at
- 3:55Speaker 2: those sort of things that I just already thought I
- 3:58Speaker 2: had figured out.
- 4:00Speaker 1: Would you say it's the songs to you are more
- 4:03Speaker 1: questioning and reaching than your last record.
- 4:06Speaker 2: Just in a different scale. And I think prior to this,
- 4:10Speaker 2: I had a lot of comfort in my home space,
- 4:14Speaker 2: and I you know, had my like spiritual practices and routines,
- 4:18Speaker 2: like I meditate, I spend time in nature, and like
- 4:21Speaker 2: I was channeling from there, like my interests in like
- 4:25Speaker 2: you know, occult arts and magic and spirituality and cosmology
- 4:31Speaker 2: like all of that stuff. Like I spent a lot
- 4:33Speaker 2: of time reading and researching and just writing, and so
- 4:36Speaker 2: I would draw from that, like and I think things
- 4:40Speaker 2: were you know, there's songs on Turning Wheel that are
- 4:43Speaker 2: very much about like love and romance and connection, but
- 4:46Speaker 2: kind of more pointed in this like cosmic scale loves
- 4:51Speaker 2: in like universal love or you know, like love is
- 4:53Speaker 2: in cosmic love and that kind of analogy. But with
- 4:58Speaker 2: Portrait of my Heart, it's just it's more one to one.
- 5:00Speaker 2: It's more just like tea and real life situations and
- 5:05Speaker 2: like personal affairs and my own matters of a heart.
- 5:09Speaker 2: So yeah, it's a big shift. And now now that
- 5:13Speaker 2: I'm talking about it, it's like, oh, yeah, this is
- 5:17Speaker 2: about to come out, and this is like my life,
- 5:19Speaker 2: and it's it's a little weird. It's it's like way
- 5:22Speaker 2: more vulnerable.
- 5:23Speaker 1: Wow, it's interesting because I would have thought the opposite,
- 5:27Speaker 1: not that I mean both seem very sincere, but I
- 5:30Speaker 1: would have thought that that Turning Wheel was more directly
- 5:34Speaker 1: to do with your everyday life and sort of more
- 5:38Speaker 1: maybe more actually a portrait of your heart than this one.
- 5:41Speaker 1: But I guess that's why, and I guess that's why
- 5:43Speaker 1: you title this one.
- 5:44Speaker 2: It's all InTru laced too, you know, like it's just
- 5:48Speaker 2: kind of what I was, what I was describing as
- 5:50Speaker 2: being on a different scale. And but yeah, they're both.
- 5:53Speaker 2: I think the through line is intimacy. I think that's
- 5:57Speaker 2: a big theme on all the things that I make,
- 6:00Speaker 2: is like intimacy with the self and with relationship or
- 6:07Speaker 2: connection to spirit and the those kinds of things are
- 6:10Speaker 2: carrying through since Pantheon of Me and to Portrait of
- 6:13Speaker 2: my Heart as well.
- 6:16Speaker 1: Since you talked about like having different practices, whether it's
- 6:21Speaker 1: meditation or just kind of communing with nature. Is music
- 6:24Speaker 1: another version of that for you?
- 6:27Speaker 2: Yeah? Absolutely, it kind of feels like for me it
- 6:30Speaker 2: was the big piece of like, Oh, I found where
- 6:34Speaker 2: I can really direct my purpose and feel like I
- 6:38Speaker 2: can direct my like particular gifts and talents in the
- 6:43Speaker 2: right way, and so music is that for me. And
- 6:48Speaker 2: it's kind of like my big take on spirituality in
- 6:51Speaker 2: general is just what can you do to you know,
- 6:55Speaker 2: elevate your like best abilities and you know, make an impact.
- 7:01Speaker 2: I struggle with connecting to people, even though I want to,
- 7:08Speaker 2: and I yeah, and I think that music kind of
- 7:10Speaker 2: like always helps me to bridge that. Like it's the
- 7:12Speaker 2: thing that connects me to all, like all let my
- 7:14Speaker 2: relationships and friendships, even my family.
- 7:17Speaker 1: Like how does that play out in your life? How
- 7:20Speaker 1: does that look in your life?
- 7:22Speaker 2: I mean it's really like it's really simple just sending
- 7:25Speaker 2: songs back and forth with friends. It feels like I
- 7:27Speaker 2: can know you so well just by that, you know.
- 7:30Speaker 2: And my dad and I our relationship is really been
- 7:35Speaker 2: kind of glued together through music, and you know, he'll
- 7:38Speaker 2: send me YouTube videos back and forth throughout the week.
- 7:40Speaker 2: That's kind of like how we mostly communicate is like
- 7:43Speaker 2: through songs. And I don't know, I think like knowing
- 7:46Speaker 2: what someone loves or what speaks to them is so
- 7:50Speaker 2: special and it like just access to something you couldn't
- 7:53Speaker 2: really describe really with words ever. And that's how I
- 7:56Speaker 2: feel about just like speaking in general, too, Like I
- 7:58Speaker 2: have such a hard time like saying what I mean
- 8:02Speaker 2: and how I feel, but I can do it with music.
- 8:04Speaker 1: And when I first met you, you were a writer. Yeah,
- 8:09Speaker 1: it's how in my mind. Yeah, So when it comes
- 8:12Speaker 1: to writing, though, you're able to organize and your thoughts
- 8:16Speaker 1: and sort of clearly get out what you're trying to say.
- 8:18Speaker 2: Better than like conversation for sure, But even then it's
- 8:23Speaker 2: not as immediate like music just is like something that's
- 8:25Speaker 2: just so immediate and it doesn't need like a translation
- 8:30Speaker 2: for me, like I just feel like I can just
- 8:32Speaker 2: act as a conduit. And yeah, I started off with writing.
- 8:36Speaker 2: You know, you saw me doing poetry workshops and stuff
- 8:41Speaker 2: like that, and that was what really launched me into
- 8:44Speaker 2: making music. From there, I was like, oh, poetry is
- 8:48Speaker 2: this other like vein of music where you can say
- 8:53Speaker 2: a lot with just a few things and have all
- 8:55Speaker 2: these multiple meanings and just a couple of words. And
- 8:58Speaker 2: so I was playing around with that and then got
- 9:01Speaker 2: a loot pedal and good, all right, I think I
- 9:10Speaker 2: cringed thinking about that chapter of my life. We can
- 9:16Speaker 2: we don't need people digging into that.
- 9:19Speaker 1: But that was the first time I ever met you.
- 9:21Speaker 1: Do you remember, do you remember meeting.
- 9:22Speaker 2: Yeah at a workshop.
- 9:25Speaker 1: Not at a workshop. We were on like telegraph and
- 9:29Speaker 1: and you were, I think, just leaving a workshop. And
- 9:32Speaker 1: I had walked from like downtown, but on foot on
- 9:37Speaker 1: I was hooking it just like I was like, okay
- 9:39Speaker 1: a bus. I was like waiting for a bus and
- 9:41Speaker 1: was taking forever, so I wanted to start walking and
- 9:42Speaker 1: a bus will eventually. I don't know how. I walked forever,
- 9:47Speaker 1: and then finally a bus came and you came up.
- 9:50Speaker 1: A couple of different other.
- 9:51Speaker 2: People, Yeah, a couple of other poets, a couple of
- 9:54Speaker 2: the poets telegraph.
- 9:55Speaker 1: Casually a couple of the poets materialized and we rode
- 10:00Speaker 1: the bus together. And that was Remember that was for
- 10:02Speaker 1: something to me, like, yeah, we just came from this
- 10:03Speaker 1: you like like we were still over there this poetry.
- 10:06Speaker 2: Yeah, oh man, what a time. Yeah, it really felt
- 10:10Speaker 2: like serendipitous, the friends I made along that journey, like
- 10:15Speaker 2: being at E. C. Berkeley and yeah, really just like
- 10:18Speaker 2: romanticizing walking around Telegraph Avenue, just like you were doing
- 10:25Speaker 2: it my little journal.
- 10:29Speaker 1: Yeah, but never did you know. It's fun And like
- 10:32Speaker 1: you say, you feel now almost like you're reaching a
- 10:36Speaker 1: second adolescence it's like I can relate because I never
- 10:41Speaker 1: I feel younger in a way than I ever did,
- 10:43Speaker 1: because back then I felt like old. I felt like
- 10:47Speaker 1: or like I was like.
- 10:48Speaker 2: Like, like, do you have a timeless quality to you?
- 10:50Speaker 2: I feel like you're like you could jump back back
- 10:53Speaker 2: and forth and thank you.
- 10:54Speaker 1: I'll accept that. I'd never considered that for myself, but
- 10:58Speaker 1: maybe that's the truth. But like that, I felt like
- 11:00Speaker 1: I was like running out of time. Like I don't
- 11:02Speaker 1: know how to explain that, but I felt I was like,
- 11:04Speaker 1: I remember when you picked up but then you were
- 11:06Speaker 1: about to say you started picking up some loop pedals.
- 11:08Speaker 1: If I remember were you getting music equipment? And I
- 11:11Speaker 1: remember like looking at you and just being like are
- 11:14Speaker 1: we too old for this?
- 11:15Speaker 2: Ship? I remember this conversation I feel like we were
- 11:18Speaker 2: talking about. I was like, I think I'm gonna start
- 11:21Speaker 2: doing this.
- 11:22Speaker 1: And you're like, I'm about to learn. Like you got
- 11:24Speaker 1: like a keep, you were so excited you got a keyboard,
- 11:26Speaker 1: and like all the time, I'm like like, and I
- 11:29Speaker 1: think you know somewhere, I think you know I probably
- 11:31Speaker 1: would have loved and have done the same thing.
- 11:32Speaker 2: The time you're trying to take me down, aren't we aren't.
- 11:36Speaker 1: We I just want to bring down with me, like
- 11:41Speaker 1: I think we're like too old for this ship, Like
- 11:42Speaker 1: what are you afterwards?
- 11:44Speaker 2: Like let me see if I can what I can. Yeah,
- 11:48Speaker 2: but it blew me.
- 11:49Speaker 1: Away because like it's like you you started doing that
- 11:51Speaker 1: and then like pretty quickly the music you were making
- 11:54Speaker 1: was psycho.
- 11:55Speaker 2: I mean, I'm glad that it was quick because I
- 11:57Speaker 2: didn't have time to waste, you know, like if it
- 11:59Speaker 2: was sorted out within the next few years, then what No.
- 12:03Speaker 2: I mean, I think I've always had the mentality of
- 12:05Speaker 2: feeling like a late bloomer, feeling like my pace is
- 12:08Speaker 2: like a little bit behind everybody else. So good thing.
- 12:12Speaker 2: I wasn't in that frame of mind where I want
- 12:15Speaker 2: I wasn't running, you know. I was like this is
- 12:18Speaker 2: this is happening, and I'm doing it and yeah, there
- 12:22Speaker 2: there wasn't a lot of questioning right at that point
- 12:25Speaker 2: in my life. Now there is. Now there's a lot
- 12:27Speaker 2: more of like what's to come and what's next? And
- 12:32Speaker 2: I you don't I have to actively work to like
- 12:36Speaker 2: cast those thoughts away. But yeah, I'm curious, why do
- 12:39Speaker 2: you feel like you're you feel like younger than you
- 12:42Speaker 2: have previously, you feel like it's about sort of having
- 12:45Speaker 2: some security that.
- 12:48Speaker 1: That's a good question. I don't know. I think it's
- 12:51Speaker 1: something to do with I don't know that that feeling
- 12:53Speaker 1: of running out of time has gone away, Like I
- 12:57Speaker 1: feel like I.
- 12:58Speaker 2: Have coasting, So I don't know.
- 13:00Speaker 1: No, I don't know about coasting as much as I
- 13:03Speaker 1: hope I'm not gonna be maybe I hope not, though, No,
- 13:06Speaker 1: but I just feel like I have more time than that,
- 13:09Speaker 1: which is so I like the complete opposite feeling was
- 13:11Speaker 1: whereas then I felt like there was not there was
- 13:14Speaker 1: no time and I was late, and you know, like
- 13:19Speaker 1: now I'm like, oh, there's.
- 13:20Speaker 2: Nothing trying to catch that bus.
- 13:22Speaker 1: Yeah, I just trying to catch that bus exactly. But
- 13:25Speaker 1: but now, yeah, I guess maybe now I'm on the
- 13:27Speaker 1: bus and I'm like, yo, there's there's nothing but time.
- 13:29Speaker 1: And so it's just that it's just a feeling. I
- 13:31Speaker 1: don't know if it's even like a real thing.
- 13:34Speaker 2: I mean, I think that's a real that thing that
- 13:37Speaker 2: can manifest physically though, Like I feel like you can
- 13:41Speaker 2: pause or slow down time depending on your perspective and mentality.
- 13:45Speaker 2: It's like it stretches and it contracts and it condenses
- 13:48Speaker 2: like depending on all of those things. But like you're
- 13:52Speaker 2: time traveling different than I am and everybody else. It's
- 13:56Speaker 2: an interesting sensation. I feel like time is just like
- 13:59Speaker 2: rapidly going by so fast, Like I feel like I'm
- 14:02Speaker 2: constantly running out of time.
- 14:04Speaker 1: Totally switch physicians. So what change? What changed for you?
- 14:09Speaker 1: Because because you know, it's like, I don't know, I've
- 14:12Speaker 1: never like I don't even I hesitate to say that,
- 14:14Speaker 1: like you've clearly hit your stride because like I've always
- 14:17Speaker 1: thought of you as a person who was like top
- 14:19Speaker 1: tier at like whatever whatever you were doing, I always
- 14:21Speaker 1: feel like you were doing it well. So I feel
- 14:23Speaker 1: like you've kind of always been in your stride. So
- 14:26Speaker 1: I don't mean it that was competitive.
- 14:28Speaker 2: They gotta at least give that impression even if I'm not.
- 14:32Speaker 1: No, I believe I believe you are secretly competitive. But no,
- 14:35Speaker 1: but but it me. I mean, you've clearly like carved
- 14:38Speaker 1: out like a really nice space for yourself. So why
- 14:40Speaker 1: do you feel like now you're feeling.
- 14:45Speaker 2: I mean, I just it's more of like a sentimentality thing,
- 14:49Speaker 2: like I don't want it to go away, Like I
- 14:51Speaker 2: don't want the I want it to last longer. So
- 14:55Speaker 2: maybe it's actively thinking about that that can speed up things.
- 14:59Speaker 2: You know, it's I think there's this resistance is an
- 15:04Speaker 2: interesting principle where it's like, yeah, the more you are
- 15:07Speaker 2: resistant to something, the more push back against you. So
- 15:10Speaker 2: I think me being like I want to dwell in
- 15:13Speaker 2: this moment for as long as I can, and like
- 15:16Speaker 2: kind of like almost like feeling like mourning that this
- 15:20Speaker 2: time is gonna not last forever. That makes it go
- 15:24Speaker 2: by quicker. So it's just like you got to practice
- 15:27Speaker 2: I tried to remind myself to practice like more presence,
- 15:30Speaker 2: and you know, everything runs its course in certain ways,
- 15:33Speaker 2: and who knows, Like, I mean, this is a current
- 15:37Speaker 2: that I'm in right now, but there's so many other
- 15:40Speaker 2: creative like potentials for the future, and like I didn't
- 15:44Speaker 2: see this coming for myself, Like at that time when
- 15:47Speaker 2: we were talking about music, I was just like, I'm
- 15:50Speaker 2: just gonna get some keyboards and mess around. I didn't
- 15:52Speaker 2: see this as where I would be at all, So
- 15:55Speaker 2: who knows what's next in ten years?
- 15:57Speaker 1: Yeah? Is this feeling where uh like, keep it keep
- 16:01Speaker 1: it alive comes from oh yeah a song?
- 16:04Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, exactly exactly. That track makes me anxious to
- 16:10Speaker 2: listen to. I enjoy it, but yeah, that's definitely the
- 16:15Speaker 2: quality in it is trying to just stay ahead and
- 16:20Speaker 2: outpace the maybe responsibilities and you know, inevitable endings. It's
- 16:28Speaker 2: kind of the the vibe on that one.
- 16:32Speaker 1: Do you remember Strumer sitting down to write that.
- 16:35Speaker 2: I remember that strangely a lot of times, the songs
- 16:39Speaker 2: that I end up making our versions of other songs
- 16:43Speaker 2: that people might never make the connection to. Like I
- 16:47Speaker 2: was listening to it's like an eighties Marvin Gaye album,
- 16:51Speaker 2: and there's the opening of it. The strings on it
- 16:55Speaker 2: are doing something really weird, and I kind of ripped
- 17:00Speaker 2: the stringline a little bit from this track and it
- 17:03Speaker 2: created this sense of like chaos. But in his version,
- 17:07Speaker 2: of course, it's like super dreamy and romantic and like lush,
- 17:10Speaker 2: and I'm like, I'm gonna kind of borrow this like
- 17:13Speaker 2: chord change and put it in this context and it's
- 17:16Speaker 2: gonna sound super hectic.
- 17:19Speaker 1: Was it the sexual Healing album?
- 17:20Speaker 2: No, it's Dream of a Lifetime, So it's it's it's madness.
- 17:24Speaker 2: You know that one, And I don't know that you
- 17:26Speaker 2: should listen to it. And now I'm wondering if you related.
- 17:29Speaker 1: At all, probably not because I didn't hear any Marven
- 17:33Speaker 1: on this, but I mean that's kind of the cool
- 17:34Speaker 1: That's why that's a that's a really cool approach to
- 17:38Speaker 1: making something because it's like it's kind of like it's
- 17:41Speaker 1: like sampling in a way, like it's like taking something
- 17:44Speaker 1: from something that you really like and it's turning it
- 17:46Speaker 1: making it work for you, you know.
- 17:47Speaker 2: Yeah, and the song, like the lyrics, it's like he's
- 17:51Speaker 2: saying it's called it's madness, so he's kind of dealing
- 17:54Speaker 2: with I think, similar ideas with it where it's like
- 17:58Speaker 2: time running out and like sort of like living in
- 18:01Speaker 2: a cyclone in your mind, and he's he's like, oh
- 18:06Speaker 2: with is Mama, And he's like it's an interesting and
- 18:11Speaker 2: weird song where it's like super dreamy and beautiful, but
- 18:13Speaker 2: then the lyrics are kind of dark and yeah.
- 18:16Speaker 1: Well Marvin's Casey really was running out of time too,
- 18:18Speaker 1: which is the eerie thing. Yeah, but you know, like
- 18:22Speaker 1: I wonder like with him, you know you could you
- 18:26Speaker 1: can go to also like a like a like a
- 18:28Speaker 1: guy like Tupac obviously to right, he's always like rapping
- 18:31Speaker 1: about his own death and it's like prophetic yeah, like
- 18:35Speaker 1: was it prophetic or did you make it real? You know?
- 18:43Speaker 2: So I just wonder Jeff Buckley too, But I've been
- 18:46Speaker 2: spending a lot of time listening to Grace. That was
- 18:50Speaker 2: a sort of entry point into like how am I
- 18:53Speaker 2: going to shape the sounds on Portrait of My Heart too,
- 18:56Speaker 2: and thinking about his like it kind of sounds like
- 19:00Speaker 2: sometimes when he's singing, he can censor, like perceive running
- 19:06Speaker 2: out of time, and there's that like almost desperate to
- 19:09Speaker 2: his voice that makes it so good.
- 19:13Speaker 1: Yeah, I wonder though, like how much of that is
- 19:17Speaker 1: is like perceiving truth or reality or how much of
- 19:22Speaker 1: that is just like people reading signals wrong or just
- 19:25Speaker 1: you know, like I don't know, like.
- 19:28Speaker 2: Yeah, or sabotage self sabotage, sabotage you know, like yeah, yeah,
- 19:33Speaker 2: it's interesting. It's kind of like I always reference that
- 19:37Speaker 2: like meme of the cartoons on the bus, like ones
- 19:41Speaker 2: looking at the window all happy looking and the other
- 19:44Speaker 2: one's like sad, and it's like it'll stay the same thing,
- 19:47Speaker 2: Like I just saw it yesterday and it's like I
- 19:49Speaker 2: don't understand David Lynch And it's like someone looking at
- 19:52Speaker 2: the window looking all happy and then the sad person's
- 19:55Speaker 2: like I don't understand David Lynch. It's like it's just
- 19:59Speaker 2: like yeah, you know, like I'm running out of time,
- 20:02Speaker 2: like I could be really depressed about that, or I'm
- 20:04Speaker 2: running out of time like you know, things are just
- 20:07Speaker 2: gonna happen, and you can like it can be to
- 20:09Speaker 2: your empowerment to see it that way. Sure, I guess
- 20:14Speaker 2: I don't, Like I don't know next topic.
- 20:21Speaker 1: I don't know if I can find the framing of
- 20:23Speaker 1: that to be a I mean, it might be maybe
- 20:25Speaker 1: that's my limited perspective. That might be my you know,
- 20:30Speaker 1: my hang up. I'm not sure, but I know what
- 20:33Speaker 1: that feeling is, and you know, I just so much
- 20:36Speaker 1: preferred not to be it's a because it can be
- 20:42Speaker 1: limiting in its own way, you know, Like like again
- 20:45Speaker 1: like where you were when you started this music thing
- 20:48Speaker 1: is like certainly you were not in that space and
- 20:52Speaker 1: that allowed you to, you know, just be more improvisational,
- 20:59Speaker 1: like I want to get this keyboard and mess around
- 21:02Speaker 1: and then you know, you just never know when you're
- 21:04Speaker 1: improvising in life like what that can lead to, you know,
- 21:07Speaker 1: And that's a living more in that space to me,
- 21:12Speaker 1: even though like you know, you listen to more and
- 21:14Speaker 1: that guy he's just he's so tortured and the music
- 21:17Speaker 1: is so beautiful, but I just prefer it just seems
- 21:22Speaker 1: like life is better when you're when when when you're
- 21:25Speaker 1: allowing yourself the lee way to you know, try things
- 21:29Speaker 1: and not feel like I have to do this because
- 21:32Speaker 1: there's not you know, I don't enough time.
- 21:34Speaker 2: I got to do this now, I know, I know,
- 21:37Speaker 2: and I want. I think going forward a lot of
- 21:39Speaker 2: conversations and like some album interviews I've been doing, the
- 21:45Speaker 2: more I talk about the like journey and the origins
- 21:49Speaker 2: of this project and where it's headed, I feel so
- 21:52Speaker 2: like I have to continue to nourish the things that
- 21:57Speaker 2: feed that and feel that because it's gotten me to
- 21:59Speaker 2: this place. And the more I try to like play
- 22:03Speaker 2: by the book or follow them the sort of industry standard,
- 22:09Speaker 2: it's gonna strip away more than it's going to add.
- 22:13Speaker 2: And I don't necessarily know what that will look like yet,
- 22:17Speaker 2: but I think it's something that's just actively on my
- 22:22Speaker 2: mind and going to start, you know, looking for more
- 22:26Speaker 2: opportunities to recreate kind of like the improvisational space you're describing,
- 22:31Speaker 2: where it's like you're not I'm not feeling pressured to
- 22:36Speaker 2: or obligated to do things a certain way and with
- 22:40Speaker 2: the portrait of my heart, and I had to see
- 22:42Speaker 2: it through. It was what was calling to me. And
- 22:44Speaker 2: I'm really happy with how it all came together. And
- 22:48Speaker 2: but there is this I can feel my intuition being
- 22:50Speaker 2: like what's next is stripping back again and kind of
- 22:55Speaker 2: going back into like a solo approach and getting messier
- 23:01Speaker 2: with my stuff because I've gained a lot of technical
- 23:04Speaker 2: skill and like you know, spent that put the work
- 23:07Speaker 2: in on, Like I know how to make the things
- 23:10Speaker 2: I want and they can somewhat match what ideas I have.
- 23:13Speaker 2: I didn't have that when I was working on Pantheon.
- 23:16Speaker 2: I was just like fruit Loop, Studio free Edition, like Audacity,
- 23:22Speaker 2: just like record. I don't know how to fix that.
- 23:24Speaker 2: So it's just going to be that way. And then
- 23:28Speaker 2: you know, like I don't know what I was doing
- 23:29Speaker 2: at all, so.
- 23:30Speaker 1: But you didn't know, and but like you, but like,
- 23:32Speaker 1: but it's not true, Like you you managed to make
- 23:35Speaker 1: something that felt right to you at least I think
- 23:37Speaker 1: or felt right to other people. I mean, that's a
- 23:39Speaker 1: that's a great project. But you've definitely gained like the
- 23:43Speaker 1: ability to maybe be more precise.
- 23:45Speaker 2: Yeah, maybe be more precise, and yeah, just know more
- 23:52Speaker 2: how to use like do things more efficiently because I
- 23:55Speaker 2: spent a little like it took a long time to
- 23:57Speaker 2: make things that I could do a lot quicker now.
- 24:02Speaker 2: But yeah, I look forward to that. I want to
- 24:04Speaker 2: just I have another set of songs that I was
- 24:10Speaker 2: working on kind of alongside Portrait of My Heart and
- 24:14Speaker 2: decided to just go with the like funnel those and
- 24:18Speaker 2: to the like a little more pop sensibility album. But
- 24:22Speaker 2: then the other stuff is like a lot more lo
- 24:24Speaker 2: fi and just more like the Witchy Spelling origin stuff.
- 24:31Speaker 1: We'll be back with more from Spelling after this break.
- 24:38Speaker 1: Spelling as the uh you know the name you release
- 24:41Speaker 1: stuff under, is that is that witchy in origin?
- 24:45Speaker 2: It's yeah, somewhat, yeah, sort of in the more of
- 24:49Speaker 2: like it was funny to me as a name. I
- 24:51Speaker 2: liked that the word itself kind of made me think
- 24:54Speaker 2: of like a creature and I would like imagine myself
- 24:56Speaker 2: as this little like elevin creature name spelling, and but yeah,
- 25:03Speaker 2: just it was just a reference to words, and like
- 25:07Speaker 2: words is magic and cantation, and I think, yeah, the
- 25:11Speaker 2: early stuff I was making like Creola Church. It was
- 25:15Speaker 2: like a lot of repetition, just a lot of like
- 25:17Speaker 2: repeating words over and over until it felt like it's
- 25:20Speaker 2: turning into some sort of hypnotic state. And that's where
- 25:24Speaker 2: that comes from.
- 25:25Speaker 1: In this Is there any of that in your mind
- 25:28Speaker 1: in the on the new project, in the new album, Like,
- 25:32Speaker 1: is that still a part of what you're doing or somewhat?
- 25:37Speaker 2: I mean, I think I'm always the biggest things I'm
- 25:40Speaker 2: always inspired by are usually like books and literature, poetry,
- 25:47Speaker 2: and so those influencers are always there. Even when I'm
- 25:51Speaker 2: describing like oh, these are like more just like matters
- 25:54Speaker 2: of the heart and like situational like love stories and
- 25:58Speaker 2: things like that, It's still still very much being drawn
- 26:00Speaker 2: from like a lot of like research and interests and
- 26:05Speaker 2: that kind of stuff. And Portrait in My Heart was
- 26:09Speaker 2: the first song that kind of opened up the floodgates
- 26:12Speaker 2: for what was to come after with the rest of
- 26:13Speaker 2: the album.
- 26:14Speaker 1: And that was the first song you wrote.
- 26:16Speaker 2: That was the first song I wrote. Yeah, And I remember.
- 26:19Speaker 3: The line thea like that came to me on the
- 26:26Speaker 3: when I was on the piano, and I remember it
- 26:29Speaker 3: sounding kind of like a halftime thing likea.
- 26:37Speaker 2: Like that, I'm very like slow, and I was like
- 26:41Speaker 2: this is cool, Like this is giving. I don't know
- 26:44Speaker 2: what this is giving, but it's got something. And then
- 26:49Speaker 2: I was frustrated with like I felt like it needed
- 26:53Speaker 2: to be more aggressive and I felt fresh, Like I
- 26:56Speaker 2: was like, I don't want to make another like long, slow,
- 26:59Speaker 2: dramatic song like I want to. I just want to
- 27:01Speaker 2: switch it up. So then I started messing around with
- 27:03Speaker 2: the drum machine and when I had that like like that,
- 27:08Speaker 2: and then I changed the way that the line came through,
- 27:15Speaker 2: and then Yeah, the vibe of that whole track on
- 27:20Speaker 2: my mind at the time was like what's next and
- 27:23Speaker 2: what's to come? Like feeling like I'm running out of
- 27:25Speaker 2: time all those things, and like feeling a lot of
- 27:28Speaker 2: apprehension and self doubt as far as like god, being
- 27:33Speaker 2: an artist, you're just like constantly thinking about yourself, like
- 27:38Speaker 2: this kind of sucks, Like I'm tired of this, Like
- 27:41Speaker 2: I'm tired of hearing my own boys, I'm tired of
- 27:45Speaker 2: what I have to do next, And I just feeling
- 27:48Speaker 2: like it's so selfish to be my so self absorbed,
- 27:52Speaker 2: you know, with but that's what it takes to make
- 27:54Speaker 2: the thing. So yeah, the song is kind of about
- 27:57Speaker 2: that and just feeling like, you know, you're pursuing your
- 28:01Speaker 2: pursuing your idea to this extreme where you're starting to
- 28:04Speaker 2: like lose track of reality, lose track of what's important
- 28:07Speaker 2: to you and your life, and things really just start
- 28:10Speaker 2: to fade away, and you like live in a delusion,
- 28:13Speaker 2: and a lot of times, like to make the best things,
- 28:15Speaker 2: you gotta like live in the delusion. And so I
- 28:21Speaker 2: was fully living in that, and the lyrics came through
- 28:24Speaker 2: like that, like lost, shattered in the dark, stranger in
- 28:26Speaker 2: my head. It's like grappling with like the artist self
- 28:32Speaker 2: and creating a kind of like a prison of your
- 28:37Speaker 2: own imagination. Yeah.
- 28:42Speaker 1: I haven't really thought about it that way, but it's
- 28:43Speaker 1: like one of the great ironies of being an artist,
- 28:45Speaker 1: I guess is you're constantly I guess it's by nature
- 28:48Speaker 1: a bits it is a bit selfish, or maybe there's
- 28:51Speaker 1: another way of thinking about it, but that definitely is
- 28:54Speaker 1: you know, yeah it.
- 28:55Speaker 2: I mean it's a beautiful part of it too, and
- 28:57Speaker 2: that's that's the song is kind of just questioning all
- 29:01Speaker 2: these things, and I think the spiritual portion that comes
- 29:04Speaker 2: in is like this feeling or sensation sometimes that I have.
- 29:08Speaker 2: It's like my relationship with God and feeling like God
- 29:12Speaker 2: is the ultimate artist, and like has you know, placed
- 29:15Speaker 2: certain like circumstances or situations for each individual life and
- 29:21Speaker 2: like what you push back or what you contribute towards
- 29:24Speaker 2: it versus what you don't how much of that is
- 29:27Speaker 2: like your responsibility and like almost even like as being
- 29:32Speaker 2: as an artist, are you like challenging against like your
- 29:36Speaker 2: nature and what God intended you to do? So that
- 29:38Speaker 2: that's kind of like I.
- 29:40Speaker 1: Mean, so you feel like maybe God was not intending
- 29:42Speaker 1: for you to be an.
- 29:42Speaker 2: Artist, yeah, or maybe that your those like your gifts
- 29:48Speaker 2: or abilities could be better placed through other things instead
- 29:52Speaker 2: of this, Like was.
- 29:53Speaker 1: It teaching that was the other thing?
- 29:55Speaker 2: Could you another thing?
- 29:56Speaker 1: Yeah?
- 29:56Speaker 2: I could see another life path where that was like
- 29:59Speaker 2: where I like put my efforts and my gifts towards
- 30:04Speaker 2: or I don't know, like being a mother or being
- 30:06Speaker 2: like you know, these other roles or yeah, these other
- 30:09Speaker 2: roles in life that like I haven't necessarily chosen or
- 30:12Speaker 2: hasn't haven't happened. So that was the crisis of that song.
- 30:19Speaker 1: Yeah, I don't know, like choosing Yeah, I don't know,
- 30:21Speaker 1: just as like a parent now three times over. I
- 30:23Speaker 1: don't know, I don't think I've ever chose.
- 30:27Speaker 2: You were chosen.
- 30:29Speaker 1: Yeah, it was that was the other way I was chosen. So,
- 30:32Speaker 1: you know, I'm just sure when it's funny, we always
- 30:36Speaker 1: think about that as a good you know, when I
- 30:37Speaker 1: talk to other people, like, I don't know if I
- 30:39Speaker 1: want to, I don't know if it's like so much
- 30:41Speaker 1: up to you, you know, I don't know it's so
- 30:42Speaker 1: much up to any of us, you know. So you know,
- 30:48Speaker 1: but it's interesting.
- 30:49Speaker 2: I mean, well, it's not that I see it that way.
- 30:51Speaker 2: It's just that kind of like those curiosities coming up,
- 30:55Speaker 2: you know. And yeah, I encountered some like weird poem
- 31:00Speaker 2: that was talking about an artist as like a thief
- 31:04Speaker 2: or like a sort of like a con artist, like
- 31:07Speaker 2: you know, like portray reality in a way that it's
- 31:10Speaker 2: not and like taking your money for it.
- 31:14Speaker 1: You know.
- 31:14Speaker 2: And it's it's just like a weird, funny, interesting concept
- 31:16Speaker 2: to me, right where it's like an artist kind of
- 31:18Speaker 2: demands a lot from you they can, and there's this
- 31:23Speaker 2: of like narcissism involved, and it's like their their job
- 31:26Speaker 2: is to like create a reality that's not reality. And
- 31:30Speaker 2: like sell you on it.
- 31:32Speaker 1: This is a that's a very Bay area. Yeah, person,
- 31:39Speaker 1: I'm living down here in l A. And it's like
- 31:41Speaker 1: normal than me. Take the money and run.
- 31:45Speaker 2: I know. That's why I need to move down here.
- 31:48Speaker 1: Yeah, but no, but it's not like it's not a
- 31:51Speaker 1: it's not a wrong interpretation, but you know, or that
- 31:54Speaker 1: certainly can seem true.
- 31:56Speaker 3: Yeah.
- 31:56Speaker 1: What other stuff were you reading or watching or listening
- 32:00Speaker 1: to around this?
- 32:02Speaker 2: Hmm? I did a lot less of that. I mean
- 32:05Speaker 2: also for Portrait of My Heart. I had seen that
- 32:07Speaker 2: movie What Dreams Bake and that also like inspired with
- 32:11Speaker 2: Robin Williams and Cuba getting juniors in it, and he's
- 32:15Speaker 2: the angel if I ever saw it, he did it.
- 32:18Speaker 1: I remember the movie It's Freaky.
- 32:20Speaker 2: That also lended into a lot of the like imagery
- 32:23Speaker 2: in that song, because it's like he his wife passes
- 32:27Speaker 2: away and he's trying to like rescue her from health
- 32:29Speaker 2: and he goes on this whole odyssey and uh, the
- 32:32Speaker 2: way she was a painter in the movie and so
- 32:35Speaker 2: like her re out, like her Heaven I think is
- 32:38Speaker 2: like all like watercolor painting, and it's like really beautiful.
- 32:42Speaker 2: She moves through it and it's like the trees are
- 32:44Speaker 2: all rippling with paint and stuff, and so that that
- 32:47Speaker 2: was the I had seen it a long time ago
- 32:50Speaker 2: and always was kind of freaked out by it by
- 32:53Speaker 2: it and it's a really intense movie, but it's also
- 32:56Speaker 2: so beautiful, and I had watched it again and that
- 32:58Speaker 2: kind of helped me with that song Portrait of My
- 33:01Speaker 2: Heart and just like kind of like that theme in
- 33:02Speaker 2: general of just like painting and yeah, and yeah, other
- 33:06Speaker 2: books like mount Anlo that's a song based off that,
- 33:12Speaker 2: And that's a book that I really enjoyed. I found
- 33:14Speaker 2: it at.
- 33:15Speaker 1: Wait, it's a book, Mountain, not analog. I didn't know
- 33:17Speaker 1: there was a book. Yeah, I loved that title.
- 33:19Speaker 2: Yeah, I was just gonna call it an analog. But
- 33:22Speaker 2: I'm glad I threw I kept the Mountain so anyone
- 33:24Speaker 2: can like look it up and hopefully read it. It's
- 33:28Speaker 2: I found it. There's this bookstore and Silverlate called Stories.
- 33:33Speaker 2: One of the times I was out here, it was
- 33:35Speaker 2: up on the shelf for like staff picks, and I
- 33:39Speaker 2: was like, oh, it's like inspired Alejandro Jodrowski's Holy Mountain,
- 33:45Speaker 2: and so he was inspired by that book to make that.
- 33:48Speaker 1: Movie and analog. Yeah, no way, well.
- 33:51Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, and it's beautiful. It's just like it's like
- 33:55Speaker 2: an adventure story about a group of mountaineers that try
- 34:00Speaker 2: to scale this mythic mountain that's supposed to exist somewhere,
- 34:05Speaker 2: but it's like hidden from from view and you can
- 34:08Speaker 2: only you know, find it if you're coming with like
- 34:13Speaker 2: a pure heart and intentions. And there's just like weird
- 34:18Speaker 2: mystical concepts in it that I really latched onto and
- 34:23Speaker 2: it tried to infuse in the song. And you know,
- 34:26Speaker 2: they're like sailing towards this mountain, so I'm sort of
- 34:29Speaker 2: trying to create that. Like there's like this noise starts
- 34:33Speaker 2: and like grows all the way up till the end
- 34:35Speaker 2: of the song. It'supposed to sound like waves. Tried to
- 34:37Speaker 2: like set the scene that way.
- 34:39Speaker 1: Yeah, good music can be so dense sometimes in like
- 34:42Speaker 1: really cool ways, Like like I don't mean that dense,
- 34:47Speaker 1: maybe lush is the word, but do things tend to
- 34:51Speaker 1: start more simply and then did they come to you
- 34:54Speaker 1: sort of like with almost pre arranged in a sense
- 34:58Speaker 1: of like you kind of know all the different kinds
- 35:00Speaker 1: of sounds you want in this thing.
- 35:02Speaker 2: I think that's that's more the case like I usually have.
- 35:06Speaker 2: It's more about reeling back than like adding a bunch
- 35:09Speaker 2: more like That's never really been a big struggle with
- 35:12Speaker 2: me as far as like arranging or writing a song.
- 35:15Speaker 2: Was just like some people describe like they can't stop
- 35:18Speaker 2: or they keep adding stuff or don't know when to stop.
- 35:20Speaker 2: I feel like I always know when to stop, and
- 35:24Speaker 2: usually I'm kind of stripping things back. That's kind of
- 35:27Speaker 2: more the process and some more than others. Like I
- 35:30Speaker 2: think the most challenging track was Waterfall, where I played
- 35:34Speaker 2: around with so many different versions and like tempos and
- 35:37Speaker 2: nothing felt quite right and we landed somewhere that I'm
- 35:40Speaker 2: happy with. That's my favorite song on the album, as
- 35:44Speaker 2: long as it's capturing the core in a really authentic
- 35:48Speaker 2: way that I'm happy and I kind of feel like
- 35:49Speaker 2: the ornamentation of things can kind of be interchangeable.
- 35:53Speaker 1: What makes Waterfall your favorite song?
- 35:57Speaker 2: I think because it was such a puzzle to hack
- 36:00Speaker 2: and like figure out that it was just so satisfying
- 36:03Speaker 2: once it really clicked, because I was kind of like, damn,
- 36:05Speaker 2: am I going to compromise and just kind of put
- 36:07Speaker 2: this out even though it doesn't feel one hundred percent right,
- 36:10Speaker 2: and I really didn't want to do that. And then
- 36:12Speaker 2: at the last minute it kind of fell together. And
- 36:16Speaker 2: I was in Athens, Georgia mixing the album with Yeah,
- 36:23Speaker 2: like a couple days left, and I still didn't have
- 36:26Speaker 2: the lyrics really figured out. I was like, well, mix
- 36:29Speaker 2: the song last and like hopefully something comes together. And
- 36:33Speaker 2: I was driving home and it's like the like the
- 36:36Speaker 2: like country South darkness that's like ooh, like it's just
- 36:41Speaker 2: you feel it and your bones kind of a thing.
- 36:43Speaker 2: And I was driving and listening to the demo and
- 36:45Speaker 2: like started to get that like shivery feeling where it's
- 36:51Speaker 2: like ooh, I feel like kind of scared but like
- 36:54Speaker 2: also like dangerous right now. And I felt like this
- 36:57Speaker 2: rush of like I don't know, just like a flash
- 37:00Speaker 2: of inspiration and helped me figure out the lyrics on that.
- 37:04Speaker 2: But it was amazing. There's always there's always a story
- 37:07Speaker 2: like that, like last minute some things like he had
- 37:11Speaker 2: to get to this point to finally be handed that.
- 37:14Speaker 2: That's how I feel about that track, So it's a favorite.
- 37:16Speaker 2: And also just the lyrics are super special to me.
- 37:20Speaker 2: It's about losing somebody and like I lost a friend
- 37:25Speaker 2: of mine, David who also inspired me to start making music,
- 37:30Speaker 2: and so I had him in mind and was like
- 37:32Speaker 2: thinking about him through this process and like kind of
- 37:35Speaker 2: being like my guiding angel through this whole experience of
- 37:40Speaker 2: being an artist. Now, so the song is dedicated to
- 37:43Speaker 2: him and thinking about grief as like it's just change
- 37:48Speaker 2: as a form.
- 37:48Speaker 1: Of change, and yeah, yes, what what happened?
- 37:52Speaker 2: He died tragically and he was hit by a unibus
- 37:57Speaker 2: and it was like he was only we were all
- 38:01Speaker 2: like in our early twenties twenty two at the time.
- 38:04Speaker 2: This was at the Telegraph house that we were all
- 38:07Speaker 2: living in, so he was one of my roommates. And
- 38:09Speaker 2: this is like a beautiful, flamboyant person who would just
- 38:16Speaker 2: like bust into my room all the time and be like,
- 38:18Speaker 2: let's go do stuff together. So I moved into his
- 38:23Speaker 2: room after he had passed, like later months later, and
- 38:26Speaker 2: that's when I started getting music equipment because I was
- 38:28Speaker 2: like I feel him. I could feel him in the room,
- 38:30Speaker 2: and I feel like he would want me to be
- 38:33Speaker 2: making stuff. Wow, Yeah, I wanted to, like I always
- 38:38Speaker 2: sing and like make things, but I didn't think my
- 38:41Speaker 2: voice was strong, Like it was something that I didn't
- 38:44Speaker 2: push it or try to like take it seriously. So yeah,
- 38:48Speaker 2: I was like, this is just another tool for me
- 38:50Speaker 2: when I started making music to like, you know, just
- 38:53Speaker 2: kind of like the like producer who also makes music
- 38:56Speaker 2: sort of thing where the voice is just being utilized
- 39:00Speaker 2: hopefully like as another instrument. But it wasn't something like
- 39:03Speaker 2: where I came in as like I'm a singer and
- 39:05Speaker 2: then you know, I feel a lot more confident in
- 39:08Speaker 2: my voice now it's grown on me. But yeah, moments
- 39:13Speaker 2: of songs like Alibi or certain songs, I'm just like
- 39:16Speaker 2: it feels like to me, like to me too much
- 39:18Speaker 2: me in there.
- 39:20Speaker 1: It's interesting.
- 39:21Speaker 2: It's too much like in this track like Analog, where
- 39:24Speaker 2: it's like I can kind of feel like I'm like
- 39:27Speaker 2: I'm just a part of the music more got it, Yeah,
- 39:30Speaker 2: part of the tapestry. And then in Alibi it's like
- 39:33Speaker 2: I'm gotta be like deliver in this this other way
- 39:37Speaker 2: where it's just a different sensation.
- 39:41Speaker 1: It is a pretty straight straight ahead song. You know
- 39:44Speaker 1: that feels new for you on the album, And I
- 39:47Speaker 1: was mentioning earlier like the abundance of guitar also feels
- 39:51Speaker 1: new for you. Yeah, how did that come together? Like
- 39:54Speaker 1: what when did you realize you were gonna that was
- 39:58Speaker 1: gonna be drive a lot of the sound.
- 40:00Speaker 2: I guess when Portrait clicked in the way that it did,
- 40:03Speaker 2: I was like, Okay, I'm going back in time. I'm
- 40:07Speaker 2: going back to this like sort of high school self.
- 40:10Speaker 2: What was I listening to then? What were the things
- 40:12Speaker 2: that fueled that attitude? And I needed to kind of
- 40:16Speaker 2: like get in my radio head bag, my like system
- 40:21Speaker 2: of a down and smashing pumpkins and all of the
- 40:25Speaker 2: like kind of nineties grunge rock stuff, And that just
- 40:31Speaker 2: made it sense to me, like, oh, I'm gonna it's
- 40:34Speaker 2: gonna be guitar based, and that'll be a sort of
- 40:38Speaker 2: like touchstone for the first time, because I think before
- 40:42Speaker 2: then I never like I didn't just made whatever and
- 40:45Speaker 2: like let the song demand what instruments to use. And
- 40:49Speaker 2: this time I'm like, I want to have a little
- 40:51Speaker 2: bit more of a centerpiece here. So rock Palette.
- 40:54Speaker 1: You forced the issue, We're gonna issue.
- 40:59Speaker 2: Sit on it.
- 40:59Speaker 1: Yeah, stay visits down what I don't even know who
- 41:04Speaker 1: played guitar on that?
- 41:05Speaker 2: No, my band, So in my band right now, Wyatt
- 41:08Speaker 2: plays guitar. He played all the songs on Portrait, and
- 41:12Speaker 2: we had a couple of guests like on Alibi, Pat
- 41:16Speaker 2: from Turnstile like also played on that and Braxton from Zulu.
- 41:22Speaker 2: So yeah, but Whyatt held down and like helped me
- 41:25Speaker 2: like arrange and write a lot of this stuff. And
- 41:28Speaker 2: then Julio it's our bass player. He's a jazz player.
- 41:31Speaker 2: He's like you know his style. He's like a music addict.
- 41:35Speaker 2: He can't stop playing music, you know, like every day
- 41:38Speaker 2: he has a gig. And he always mixed the live
- 41:42Speaker 2: performances really dynamic. And I'll be like, Okay, we have
- 41:46Speaker 2: our set lists. This is what we're gonna do every night,
- 41:49Speaker 2: you know, because it feels good to kind of just
- 41:51Speaker 2: like lock in and get better at the same thing.
- 41:54Speaker 2: And he'll be like, this is boring. We gotta do
- 41:57Speaker 2: like I'm gonna do something different every night, you know.
- 41:59Speaker 1: Like, so who's on Satisfaction? Is that? Why?
- 42:03Speaker 2: Yeah?
- 42:04Speaker 1: That gets pretty hardcore? What did that call him at
- 42:08Speaker 1: the end? Or were you like we're gonna for sure
- 42:10Speaker 1: just gonna like funny, did you know from the jump
- 42:13Speaker 1: that you were going to song would end up like yeah,
- 42:17Speaker 1: turn that into like a slayer.
- 42:20Speaker 2: I'm trying to remember where that song even when I
- 42:24Speaker 2: wrote that one. I think it was kind of like
- 42:28Speaker 2: having this more like wicked synth flare to it at first,
- 42:32Speaker 2: Like I remember making that the guitar line that's like
- 42:37Speaker 2: no no, no, no no no, and it kind of
- 42:40Speaker 2: had more of like a Queen of Wands sort of
- 42:43Speaker 2: like prog synth rock feeling to it. Like I started
- 42:48Speaker 2: to get real theatrical with like all the synth work
- 42:52Speaker 2: and stuff, and I'm like, what would it sound like
- 42:53Speaker 2: it was stripped down and just like a much more
- 42:54Speaker 2: brutal and just guitar instead of all this like chaotic
- 42:59Speaker 2: synth stuff happening.
- 43:01Speaker 1: Like the guitar was down bad for a while. Yeah,
- 43:05Speaker 1: like it could use a renaissance, like I like having music,
- 43:10Speaker 1: so I was, but it's just it was such a
- 43:12Speaker 1: wild that wasn't a flavor I was used to from
- 43:17Speaker 1: your song.
- 43:19Speaker 2: I know, yeah, I know. I mean I think about
- 43:24Speaker 2: some Pantheon stuff and like I would have the impulse
- 43:27Speaker 2: to do kind of what I'm doing on Satisfaction or
- 43:30Speaker 2: with like other heavier tracks, but it's like I just
- 43:32Speaker 2: didn't have the means too, like real fun. I tried
- 43:35Speaker 2: to kind of go there and make this like sort
- 43:38Speaker 2: of like doom metal guitar, but with the synth. So
- 43:42Speaker 2: I would just like emulate what I wanted to sound
- 43:45Speaker 2: like on on the gino And what did it lived
- 43:49Speaker 2: like that I was saying, I feel like the got
- 43:52Speaker 2: to channel some of those like the first instances of
- 43:55Speaker 2: music that felt like they were different than what I
- 43:59Speaker 2: was like growing up listening to, Like my mom listened
- 44:03Speaker 2: to a lot of neo soul and R and B
- 44:05Speaker 2: and all that stuff really still comes through too, like
- 44:09Speaker 2: in the nineties, like Mary J. Blige, like she's one
- 44:11Speaker 2: of the people who taught me how to sing, and
- 44:14Speaker 2: Randy and Monica and Tony and like.
- 44:16Speaker 1: You was like singing other records.
- 44:18Speaker 2: Yeah yeah, and then you know, so that was the
- 44:21Speaker 2: music I was like raised on and like in my
- 44:22Speaker 2: household and like but then I think some of the
- 44:25Speaker 2: like alt rock stuff I got into, like AFI and
- 44:28Speaker 2: like pop punk stuff.
- 44:30Speaker 1: That was your dad. Yeah.
- 44:31Speaker 2: No, it was like me in like a suburb and
- 44:35Speaker 2: like going to Borders Bookstore and being like raised by
- 44:38Speaker 2: Borders Bookstore and like you know that I'm speaking to
- 44:42Speaker 2: kind of like oh, hearing something else and feeling like
- 44:46Speaker 2: what is this like for hearing like system of a
- 44:49Speaker 2: down for the first time and being like, oh, what
- 44:53Speaker 2: is this feeling happening right now? Like I didn't know
- 44:56Speaker 2: I had like these sort of sensations inside, but it's
- 45:00Speaker 2: speaking to something that was there. And yeah, so Portrait
- 45:04Speaker 2: of my Heart kind of like drawing from that alt
- 45:06Speaker 2: rock palette that kind of felt like it kind of
- 45:09Speaker 2: fueled this new fascination and interests in like this is
- 45:14Speaker 2: my music too, Like this this is stuff that I
- 45:16Speaker 2: really connect with.
- 45:16Speaker 1: And like, you play and you played some shows with Turnstile,
- 45:19Speaker 1: didn't you?
- 45:20Speaker 2: I did? Yeah, yeah that's I saw Brendan Gates go
- 45:26Speaker 2: on some podcast maybe and say how he loves Little
- 45:30Speaker 2: Deer and I was like what it made me so happy?
- 45:38Speaker 2: And then I think I reached out like DM tim
- 45:41Speaker 2: or something was like no way, Like that's so cool
- 45:43Speaker 2: that you even listened to Spelling asked us to play
- 45:47Speaker 2: some shows. We played open for them in Vegas and
- 45:51Speaker 2: like Tucson, I think, no, Yeah, it was. It was
- 45:54Speaker 2: so interesting to stand up there in front of their
- 45:57Speaker 2: crowd in Vegas.
- 45:59Speaker 1: Vegas.
- 46:02Speaker 2: Yeah, there was a lot of confusion. Yeah, there's a
- 46:08Speaker 2: lot of like puzzled looks and then kind of like
- 46:12Speaker 2: saw some people converted, like.
- 46:14Speaker 1: The best kinds of shows of I love those, man.
- 46:16Speaker 1: I love when it's just not like the perfect match
- 46:19Speaker 1: for the audience, you know, like that's the most fun. Yeah.
- 46:23Speaker 2: I thrive on that too, Like I like seeing the
- 46:27Speaker 2: sort of perplexed crowd and then some heads nodding and
- 46:32Speaker 2: be like I don't know, okay, Yeah, it was a
- 46:42Speaker 2: lot of fun. And I love his voice like a
- 46:45Speaker 2: portrait of my heart. We're working on doing a remix
- 46:49Speaker 2: with him, so like featuring him on one of the tracks.
- 46:53Speaker 2: It's just gonna be really great.
- 46:55Speaker 1: After this break, we'll be back with the rest of
- 46:57Speaker 1: my conversation with Spelling. Yeah, you're doing a whole remix
- 47:05Speaker 1: like release of that album, but it's not gonna come.
- 47:08Speaker 2: Yeah, just be a few tracks, and like Simon and
- 47:11Speaker 2: I are working on those like remixed versions. And the
- 47:15Speaker 2: last two years of just put more effort into connecting
- 47:18Speaker 2: with other artists like that I really like like Brendan,
- 47:22Speaker 2: and it to me like that's the biggest like affirmation
- 47:25Speaker 2: along the way, like, oh, these artists I really love,
- 47:28Speaker 2: like they love Spelling, and what can I like gain
- 47:32Speaker 2: from that as far as just like creative collaboration and
- 47:35Speaker 2: seeing what fusion will come from, because I think it's
- 47:38Speaker 2: pretty all over the spectrum. Like the people who are
- 47:40Speaker 2: interested in Spelling isn't like they aren't coming from this,
- 47:43Speaker 2: Like I'm interested in the music because I like hardcore music,
- 47:48Speaker 2: or I like, you know, this style of music, or
- 47:51Speaker 2: it's just all over the map.
- 47:53Speaker 1: Like because I don't know if there's like I don't
- 47:55Speaker 1: know if you could do an algorithmic like if you
- 47:58Speaker 1: listen to Spelling, you would also like like it's nothing
- 48:04Speaker 1: like father to your style.
- 48:06Speaker 2: You know, there's like sometimes I've like heard my music
- 48:10Speaker 2: pop up on things I wouldn't expect it to, like algorithmically,
- 48:14Speaker 2: But then I'm like, oh, I do see the crossover there,
- 48:16Speaker 2: Like what, I'm a big fan of Cibo Matto and
- 48:21Speaker 2: I was listening to their album that it sort of
- 48:24Speaker 2: shuffling other stuff, and then one of my old songs
- 48:27Speaker 2: was like a jump scare. I was like, what, why
- 48:30Speaker 2: does this sound so familiar? It was Dirty Desert Dreams
- 48:33Speaker 2: from Mazy Fly, and I was like, why is this
- 48:38Speaker 2: playing right now? Yeah? That just sort of I guess
- 48:42Speaker 2: like synth music.
- 48:45Speaker 1: Yeah, I guess, but I don't know. I mean, yeah, yeah,
- 48:49Speaker 1: you definitely have a unique style. Yeah, an amalgamation a lot.
- 48:54Speaker 1: There's a lot going on in there. This is the
- 48:57Speaker 1: remix I guess, or they just like duets or like
- 49:01Speaker 1: wait what are the Yeah? How much are you changing
- 49:04Speaker 1: the songs?
- 49:05Speaker 2: I want to change them more like Simon and I.
- 49:08Speaker 2: He's fantastic also, like we have great chemistry. He worked
- 49:11Speaker 2: on the track sometimes on That's Just My Bloody Valentine
- 49:15Speaker 2: cover on Portrait of My Heart, and he also did
- 49:18Speaker 2: Waterfall and Drain, so he helped me just co produce
- 49:22Speaker 2: those and then I was like, oh man, this was
- 49:25Speaker 2: so cool. And I didn't really connect with him until
- 49:27Speaker 2: towards the tail end of the whole process, and I
- 49:29Speaker 2: was like, I wish we would have connected way earlier.
- 49:32Speaker 2: But it's cool. And now I'm like, yeah, let's definitely
- 49:35Speaker 2: do the remixes together. So so far we're working on three.
- 49:38Speaker 2: There's I kind of wanted to like keep this a
- 49:41Speaker 2: surprise though, like who the features are.
- 49:43Speaker 1: Gotta gotta gotta got it. He worked with the Rabbi
- 49:46Speaker 1: Zell on the project. Who you know, it's done a
- 49:50Speaker 1: lot of good work for us and like a bunch
- 49:53Speaker 1: of other people, how was that?
- 49:56Speaker 2: It was great? You know, I feel like that was
- 49:59Speaker 2: my first experience working with the producer. Everything has been
- 50:04Speaker 2: self produced before, so there's there was definitely like a
- 50:07Speaker 2: sort of an internal struggle at the concept at first,
- 50:12Speaker 2: and I knew it would really it would really benefit
- 50:16Speaker 2: me and help me grow just to get that opportunity.
- 50:20Speaker 2: So when in and I feel like fifty to fifty,
- 50:23Speaker 2: like you don't know if you're gonna vibe with someone
- 50:26Speaker 2: then you can even if you like get along, and
- 50:28Speaker 2: like it's like, how is that going to translate when
- 50:31Speaker 2: it comes to like these creative decisions? And so I've
- 50:35Speaker 2: come a long way as a person as far as
- 50:37Speaker 2: like being able to even be in that scenario and
- 50:40Speaker 2: context like what you so would probably just give me
- 50:42Speaker 2: so much dread and anxiety. But he's the loss of control,
- 50:47Speaker 2: the loss of control and also just having to make
- 50:51Speaker 2: decisions with someone, you know, because I think when I'm
- 50:55Speaker 2: working on my own and solo capacity, which I usually
- 50:57Speaker 2: do producing, it's like I can take as much time
- 51:01Speaker 2: as I need and like, you know, like there isn't
- 51:04Speaker 2: this need to communicate actively, like it's just an internal communication.
- 51:08Speaker 2: So I was like still a little nervous, but he's great,
- 51:12Speaker 2: Like he's made everything feel so casual. I don't know
- 51:15Speaker 2: what I was expecting, but yeah, he just had this
- 51:19Speaker 2: confidence and like he remember him being like he showed
- 51:23Speaker 2: me what he was sort of starting out with and
- 51:25Speaker 2: he's like and I was already really digging it, and
- 51:28Speaker 2: he's like, yeah, don't worry, You're gonna leave here with
- 51:30Speaker 2: something you love. Like just like I was like, okay, confidence,
- 51:38Speaker 2: I promise, I guarantee it. No, So he just had
- 51:41Speaker 2: like a really good like, Oh he's great.
- 51:43Speaker 1: Like he knows how to like, you know, he knows.
- 51:45Speaker 2: What he's doing, he knows what he's doing, and he
- 51:47Speaker 2: had I like that sense of assurance because I, you know,
- 51:51Speaker 2: I don't want to be in the room with someone
- 51:52Speaker 2: that's like m you know, like uh, like I want
- 51:55Speaker 2: like do what you do best and like work from that.
- 51:59Speaker 2: And like that felt really comforting just to like things
- 52:02Speaker 2: didn't feel awkward at all. And also it was just
- 52:05Speaker 2: awesome to see that was my kind of my all
- 52:08Speaker 2: only one of few experiences seeing someone just like operate
- 52:11Speaker 2: as a producer too, and I'm like, oh, he's doing
- 52:13Speaker 2: these things or whatever, and like I do a lot
- 52:15Speaker 2: of this stuff too, you know, Like it was just
- 52:18Speaker 2: like affirming to be like, oh, there wasn't a blueprint.
- 52:20Speaker 2: There's so much experimentation. There's so much just like fucking
- 52:25Speaker 2: around with this like tape reel and still the like
- 52:29Speaker 2: sensations of imposter syndrome come up or it's like what
- 52:31Speaker 2: I do, is that good enough? Or is it like
- 52:34Speaker 2: refined enough or whatever? And techniques and it's like we
- 52:38Speaker 2: all don't know what we're doing in some capacity, like
- 52:43Speaker 2: the idea of expertise is so relative, and especially in art. Yeah,
- 52:48Speaker 2: but yeah, he's he's brilliant and like really helped me
- 52:51Speaker 2: to like stand on ideas I had and be like no,
- 52:55Speaker 2: like try it, like actually do it, and would follows through.
- 52:59Speaker 2: And we came up with some just like some really
- 53:01Speaker 2: fun stuff on Portrait, particularly like we were like strumming
- 53:05Speaker 2: this trying to get real like pet sounds with it,
- 53:08Speaker 2: like i'ming the piano keys and like doing all these
- 53:12Speaker 2: effects on it and just adding subtle little like stuff
- 53:16Speaker 2: that made a big difference. And I came in with
- 53:19Speaker 2: this version of the song that was like once again
- 53:22Speaker 2: like an eight. It was like eight minutes long, and
- 53:24Speaker 2: he's like, this is cool, but cut this, cut like
- 53:28Speaker 2: cut it in half.
- 53:31Speaker 1: Was there like other sections or the preamble.
- 53:34Speaker 2: I always do this too, And he's like, it's just
- 53:36Speaker 2: my pop mind, just kind of saying like this doesn't
- 53:39Speaker 2: happen again anywhere else in the song. I'm like, it
- 53:43Speaker 2: was this intro stringline countermelody, and I thought that was
- 53:49Speaker 2: the sickest part of the song. And I was like,
- 53:51Speaker 2: there's no way, what like, what do you mean cut that?
- 53:53Speaker 2: Like that? That is the song right there. And he's like,
- 53:55Speaker 2: it just doesn't happen ever again, like and I'm like, oh,
- 54:00Speaker 2: you know, like and I'm like, fine, we'll just let's
- 54:02Speaker 2: try it. Let's try it, and like that little voice
- 54:04Speaker 2: in my head coming up being like this is a
- 54:07Speaker 2: mistake working with someone else, like I hate this, no, no, no,
- 54:12Speaker 2: But it was really good for me to kind of
- 54:14Speaker 2: just see that happen, like, oh, you know, the thing
- 54:17Speaker 2: that you think is absolutely right sometimes isn't or that like.
- 54:21Speaker 1: Yeah, you know to your point about there's no expertise,
- 54:25Speaker 1: like yeah, we can't even be experts about ourselves and
- 54:28Speaker 1: what we you know, it's hard to be objective about
- 54:30Speaker 1: ourselves to anyway.
- 54:31Speaker 2: Yeah, to be objective, and I always want to just
- 54:33Speaker 2: do it. It was a good reminder do it takes
- 54:35Speaker 2: to serve the song, and like, let's just at least
- 54:37Speaker 2: try it. And I needed that like an outside brain
- 54:40Speaker 2: to just show it to me in a different lay.
- 54:43Speaker 2: So bed a really good time.
- 54:45Speaker 1: I mean it's interesting that on this project you both
- 54:48Speaker 1: want learned how you can work with a producer, but
- 54:52Speaker 1: also like you like reified your own sort of abilities
- 54:57Speaker 1: as a producer too, Like you kind of moving forward,
- 55:00Speaker 1: do you think you want to self produce again or
- 55:02Speaker 1: do you want to work with someone else again, or there's.
- 55:05Speaker 2: A sense of like relief and like I was saying,
- 55:07Speaker 2: I wanted to just go back to me for this
- 55:09Speaker 2: next project and see what comes out of that. I'm
- 55:13Speaker 2: really excited to. Like, yeah, I think that that experience
- 55:17Speaker 2: with Rob was super affirming. I'm like, I feel like
- 55:19Speaker 2: I'm I'm a strong producer, Like I know what I want,
- 55:21Speaker 2: and I think that's the most important thing, is like
- 55:24Speaker 2: knowing essentially what you want and acting on it, Like
- 55:28Speaker 2: because you could sit there all day with there's so
- 55:30Speaker 2: many other versions and options, but ultimately I do know
- 55:34Speaker 2: what I want strongly, So I think I'm motivated to
- 55:37Speaker 2: kind of just go there for the for what's next
- 55:40Speaker 2: like self produce it.
- 55:41Speaker 1: So future for spelling is let this album come out,
- 55:45Speaker 1: do the tour, move to LA. It's self produced record.
- 55:51Speaker 2: Sounds about right.
- 55:52Speaker 1: Yeah, well glad you'll be around more.
- 55:55Speaker 2: Me too. It's been I don't know. LA is just everything.
- 56:00Speaker 2: It's like everything everyone says about it at the same time,
- 56:03Speaker 2: like the good and bad. It's all there and.
- 56:05Speaker 1: That's very true.
- 56:06Speaker 2: Yeah, most of the good mostly mostly kid.
- 56:11Speaker 1: Well, congratulations on the new album.
- 56:13Speaker 2: Thank you.
- 56:14Speaker 1: It's really great and I'm looking forward to spending more
- 56:18Speaker 1: time with it.
- 56:19Speaker 2: I appreciate it. Thanks justin. It's fun talking to you
- 56:22Speaker 2: and very official.
- 56:29Speaker 1: An episode description, you'll find a link told playlist of
- 56:32Speaker 1: some of our favorite spelling songs. Be sure to check
- 56:35Speaker 1: out YouTube dot com slash Broken Record Podcast to see
- 56:37Speaker 1: all of our video interviews, and be sure to follow
- 56:40Speaker 1: us on Instagram at the Broken Record Pod. You can
- 56:43Speaker 1: follow us on Twitter at broken Record. Broken Record is
- 56:47Speaker 1: produced and edited by Leah Rose, with marketing help from
- 56:50Speaker 1: Eric Sandler and Jordan McMillan. Our engineer is Ben Tollinday.
- 56:54Speaker 1: Broken Record is a production of Pushkin Industries. If you
- 56:58Speaker 1: love this show and others from Pushkin, consider subscribing to
- 57:01Speaker 1: pushkin Plus. Pushkin Plus is a podcast subscription that offers
- 57:05Speaker 1: bonus content and ad free listening for four ninety nine
- 57:08Speaker 1: a month. Look for pushing and Plus on Apple podcast subscriptions,
- 57:13Speaker 1: and if you like this show, please remember to share, rate,
- 57:16Speaker 1: and review us on your podcast app. Our theme music's
- 57:18Speaker 1: by Kenny Beats. I'm justin Richmond.